La Plume, PA – Keystone College's women's basketball team celebrated Senior Day on Saturday afternoon with a 71-31 victory over Cairn University that moved them closer to Colonial States Athletic Conference playoff berth.  The Giants, who held a 44-point halftime advantage, level their overall record at 12-12 overall improves to 9-6 in league play.  A win at Baptist Bible College on Monday night would clinch Keystone's second CSAC playoff berth in the last three seasons.    
 
Prior to Saturday's contest, Keystone honored the team's five seniors: Alyssa Cuomo (Odessa, DE/Hodgson Vo-tech), Ashley Evans (Wooster, OH/Wooster), Chelsey Hropovich (Seward, PA/Ligonier Valley), Jazmyn Robinson (Hyattsville, MD/Northwestern), and Jerica Rode (Lords Valley, PA/Wallenpaupack).  At halftime of the contest, the Giants also honored selected Keystone faculty as part of their Faculty Appreciation Day.    
 
Keystone raced out to a 20-1 advantage over the opening 5:37 of Saturday afternoon's contest and led 30-6 with 9:12 remaining in the first half.   The Giants went on to hold commanding, 51-7 lead at halftime after shooting 57.6 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes of play while going 3-5 from three-point range and 10-13 from the free throw line in the period.  
 
All 10 Giants who played in the first half scored at least two points, led by 11 apiece from Evans and Cuomo.  Robinson paced all players with seven assists in the stanza, Hropovich grabbed a team-high five rebounds, and Cierra Hensley (Frederick, MD/Frederick) added six points off the bench for Keystone.
 
The hosts held Cairn (2-18, 0-14 CSAC) to just two first half field goals, one of which was a three-pointer from Regina Younger.  The visitors were also 2-6 from the charity stripe in the opening frame.
 
Keystone pushed their lead to as many 47 early in the second half.  Cairn would outscore the hosts 24-20 in the second half as the Giants held the ball deep into the shot clock and rolled players in and out of the game, but it wouldn't be nearly enough as the hosts cruised to the 40-point victory.
 
Evans finished with a game-high 14 points while Cuomo netted 12 points to lead Keystone in the victory.  Hensley added eight points and led all players with 11 rebounds.  AAliya Hayes (New Rochelle, NY/New Rochelle) contributed eight points, Dyjae Williams (Newark, NJ/Bloomfield Tech) added six points and a game-high four steals while Robinson ended the contest with six points and a game-best seven assists.  Rode add six boards and two blocked shots while Hropovich chipped in with six caroms and a blocked shot for the Giants, who ended the day connecting on 48.2 percent of their field goal attempts while going 44.4 percent from downtown and 68.4 percent from the line.
 
Amie Eppolito led Cairn with 15 points on five three-pointers to go along with seven rebounds while Amy Faust led the Highlanders with eight rebounds.  The visitors finished the game shooting 20 percent from the floor, 27.8 percent from beyond the arc, and 33.3 percent from the stripe.
 
Keystone held a 48-33 advantage in rebounding for the game and was plus-two (17-19) in the turnover department for the game.    
 
Keystone will close out the regular season on Monday night with a conference game at local rival Baptist Bible beginning at 6:00 p.m. in Clarks Summit.  The Giants, who defeated the Defenders 85-39 in the first game between the sides on January 14^th in La Plume, will be looking to complete the season sweep of Baptist Bible and solidify a berth in the conference playoffs.